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10 Ways for Niantic to Improve Pokemon Go (Part I)

It is the game almost everyone is playing, but there are some things which could be improved. This is just the first 10 things we could think of. I will be posting more ways the game could be improved in the future, so please subscribe if you want to see Parts 2 or more.

#1. Allow people to have their Pokemon PVP fights against their Friends.

A Peer Vs Peer (PVP) is something that is hugely lacking currently in the game, which would allow players to play against their friends and even gain a small amount of XP while doing it. Even if it was only worth 5 XP per combat, players would still enjoy the challenge of playing against their friends.

#2. A Sorting / Organizing Button.

Sometimes you can spend hours going through all your Pokemon and the current system of ranking Pokemon by CP is a bit dull. What would be nice is if you could sort all your Pokemon quickly and easily by the touch of a button into categories:

Currently you can really only sort your Pokemon by clicking "Favorite". Being able to sort your Pokemon using a button in one of the corners would be handy.

UPDATE!You can now sort your Pokemon! In the bottom right corner when viewing your Pokemon there is an icon that used to be only a Glossary of what means what. CP = Combat Power, etc. With this update you can now sort Pokemon according to:

Recently ViewedFavorites (the old standard)NumberHit PointsNameCombat Power

There still is no options for organizing by Size or Type, but this is still useful.

#3. Sight Filter.

If you are running low on Pokeballs you might not want to be throwing them at Zubats and other common Pokemon every time you see them. Or maybe they just despise Drowzees (which I consider to be the Donald Trump of Pokemon...). Having a filter so you can decide "Hey, maybe I don't want to even see Zubats and Drowzees!" would be handy to the people for a variety of reasons.

#4. Directional Sighting.

Note - I am not talking about those 3rd party apps that allow people to see what Pokemon are nearby on a map. I consider those to be cheating.

Directional Radar would be a tiny adjustment to the Sightings box which would allow players to have a vague idea of what direction a particular Pokemon is in. Simple directions like North, South, East, West by adding an arrow below the Pokemon that was sighted.

This simple adjustment would make those 3rd party apps obsolete. It would also come with the added benefit of people learning what directions North, South, East, West are, and it would not tell people every detail like Northwest, Southeast, etc.

#5. Transfer Queue Option.

You know when you are playing the game a lot and you start running low on space for more Pokemon? You spot a Pokemon, want to capture it, but your backpack is full? A Transfer Queue would allow Pokemon Go to automatically transfer the lowest CP Pokemon who is not favourited.

You can turn the option on and you can turn it off. But basically it would allow people to end automatically dumping what would usually be drowzees, zubat, caterpies, etc whenever their backpack is too full.

I would even be willing to PAY to have this option. 200 Pokecoins sounds reasonable just to have the option of being to do this.

Or alternatively a question that pops up which asks "Would you like to transfer your lowest CP Pokemon?" whenever your backpack is full. That would also be handy.

#6. Other Teams.

More teams are coming in the future, that much I am certain. A simple look at the different Eevee evolutions makes me confident that the next team introduced to the game will be a Dark team, coinciding with the release of 50 more Pokemon and Umbreon.

The existing 3 teams: Mystic, Valor and Instinct are all designed to match the colours of the Eeveelutions. So it makes sense that the next stage would be Dark and involve Umbreon.

I am guessing that won't happen until June 2017 however. My prediction
at present is that Niantic will release 50 new Pokemon per year, often
coinciding with various updates to the game and more Teams for players
to choose from.

The question however is, will people have to make a new account to join the Dark team? Or will players be given the option to switch teams when the Dark team appears? I am guessing it will be something different entirely...

For example they might decide to make the Dark team only available as an option to players who have captured a certain number of Dark Pokemon. This would mean that only the people who catch a large number of Dark Pokemon will be given the option of joining the Dark team. The timespan for joining the team might even be limited, meaning players have a time limit during which they have to catch X number of Dark Pokemon or else they will not be given the option of joining the team. Which brings me to the following...

#7. Dark Pokemon.

If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that there currently are no Dark Pokemon at all in the game. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

There are some Pokemon which have Dark type attacks, but there are currently no Dark Pokemon in the game. I expect, in combination with #6 above, that Dark Pokemon may end up being part of an event that will have players outside getting a lot of exercise trying to catch as many Dark Pokemon they can in an effort to become part of an "elite" Dark team.

Such an event will also draw new players to the game, and get old players re-interested in the game.

#8. Add more things and options to the Shop.

For example you can buy 1 Egg Incubator for 150 Pokecoins. But what if you could buy 8 Egg Incubators for 950 Pokecoins (instead of 1,200 for buying 8 currently). Or 25 Egg Incubators for 2,350 Pokecoins (normally 3,750 for buying 25 currently).

For reference I am using the current price ratios for Lucky Eggs to give me an idea of roughly how much this should cost players.

Thus players could, if they wanted to, buy 8 Egg Incubators and then have 9 of them (including the unlimited one) all hatching eggs at the same time.

It would be incredibly expensive to be hatching eggs that way all the time. Cheaper in my opinion to just buy a bicycle and go for long rides.

Other things the Shop should sell:

Great Balls

Ultra Balls

Razz Berries

25 Lure Modules (at present you can only buy a max of 8 at once).

Revives

Potions, Healing

Potions, Buffs*

#9. Buff Potions.

Think of this as an energy drink for your Pokemon. It allows you to temporarily boost the CP of your Pokemon for 30 minutes. Each potion boosts a Pokemon's CP and improves their HP the appropriate amount. I am thinking there should be 4 kinds of Buff Potions.

Imagine for example a lowly Pidgey drinking a Hyper Potion and then beating up Pokemon that are twice its size.

Buff potions should be able to be found at Pokestops, but they should also be purchasable from the Shop too.

#10. Pokemon Combat Tricks Quests.

At present the combat system in Pokemon Go is extremely simple. Most of the time you just tap the screen repeatedly and hope you win. If you are smart, you also press down for a special attack or swipe to the side when you see a big attack coming and you manage to dodge it.

But what if you could add a 4th option by swiping up or down? The 4th option might be a special type of attack which might stun or trip their enemy, or maybe a special dodge that triggers automatically when the enemy next tries to use their big attack, or it might even be a special attack which does a huge amount of damage but can only be used once per combat.

And what if this 4th option was something you had to teach your Pokemon by completing a series of tasks / quests?

For example:

Having the Pokemon fight in 100 gym battles.

Having the Pokemon train 100 times.

Having the Pokemon protect 25 gyms (not all at once, but this might take a month to accomplish).

Walk 100 km while the Pokemon is in Teaching Mode.

All of the above.

This particular Pokemon would obviously be your favourite (or one of several favourites) and you would evolve it, upgrade it regularly, etc.

Going on Quests to teach your Pokemon a new combat trick would be a whole new challenge and level of gameplay. It should still involve walking around from place to place, which is part of the whole Pokemon Go experience. Players should not be able to just buy the trick. They have to earn it.

Want to see more of these possible improvements in the future?

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And while you are at it, share this page with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. If the folks at Niantic have a look maybe they will implement several ideas.